Budget forces attorneys to do more with less

The district attorney and public defenders offices in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes both face budget shortfalls that translate into a higher workload, officials said.

Mary KilpatrickStaff Writer

The district attorney and public defenders offices in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes both face budget shortfalls that translate into a higher workload, officials said. About 31,403 cases were filed by the Terrebonne District Attorney's office in 2011, the most recent year data is available, First Assistant District Attorney Carlos Lazarus said. The office has 18 assistant district attorneys on its staff to prosecute cases, he said. State law says it's supposed to have 19, but the office doesn't have the money to hire a replacement, Lazarus said. “We're not rehiring,” he said. “It's tight.”In Lafourche Parish, the District Attorney's Office filed 17,181 cases that year, according to Louisiana Supreme Court records. It has 16 lawyers on its staff, three more than the state requires, but the office is still “spread a little thin,” Lafourche Parish District Attorney Cam Morvant said.“Could I use another assistant district attorney?” he said. “Yes, ... but I can't afford it. And the state's made it pretty clear they're not going to give it to us, so we'll make do with what we have.”The Terrebonne office's assets dropped from $4.2 million in 2010 to $3.5 million in 2011, about a 17 percent decrease, according to a State Auditor's Office report.The Lafourche office saw about an 8 percent decrease in assets — from about $2.5 million in 2011 to $2.29 million in 2012, according to the most recent state audit.The district attorneys' financial situations are similar to the public defenders' offices.Though the Terrebonne Public Defenders Office that represents indigents ended 2012 with a $42,648 surplus, it expects to spend $70,000 more than it takes in this year, Terrebonne Parish Chief Public Defender Tony Champagne said.The Lafourche Public Defenders Office spent $139,510 more than it received last year and leaned on savings to pay its bills.The Terrebonne office has six attorneys on staff and contracts with several more, Champagne said. The National Legal Aid and Defender Association recommends that each attorney on staff handle no more than 150 felony cases a year. Two attorneys were assigned 180 felony cases in 2012, Champagne said. Another worked 204 felony cases. Each of those lawyers had dozens of other misdemeanor cases assigned.But according to the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, “if you have 150 (felony) cases, you're only supposed to have 150 (felony cases)” and no other cases, Champagne said. The association also suggests each lawyer handle no more than 400 misdemeanors a year.One attorney worked 493 misdemeanor cases in 2012, plus 72 juvenile cases in Terrebonne, Champagne said. Not all of those cases have a chance of going to court, however, which makes the large numbers easier to stomach, he said. An attorney in his office has between 100 and 200 cases that are actively open, a figure that is “close to manageable,” he said.“I still think we need more attorneys. ... I could use another because of the number of cases,” he said.The Lafourche Public Defenders Office has nine attorneys and works with three or four lawyers at independent firms.In Lafourche, three public defenders handled 223 to 236 cases each in 2012, Boudreaux said.One lawyer handled 719 misdemeanor cases that year in addition to 181 juvenile cases. Boudreaux said he would he would like the caseload to be less and indicates the District Attorney's Office may still be in a better position. “It's hard to look at numbers. The (District Attorney's) Office may see similar numbers, but you also have to look at the support system they have,” he said.